How to change Windows 8 Start Screen background and logon screen color

Windows 8 Start Tweaker

To change Windows 8 Start Screen background and logon screen color is now as easy as knowing how to make a few clicks, all thanks to Windows 8 Start Tweaker.

These past weeks, I have been covering many things about  Windows 8, such as how to install the Windows 8 in a virtual machine, how to dual-boot the new operating system with Windows 7, and others like how to bring back the Windows 7 classic Start menu with just one click; this week I came across with a small portable application called Windows 8 Start Tweaker. This is a simple but really useful application that allows you to change the background color of the logon and new Metro Start Screen background image with a couple of clicks.

Once you open the application, it will display your current default color and image, in this case the green background color for the logon and the also green background image for the Start screen –Oh! The application is not in English by default, don’t forget to click in the USA flag before start –. You can change one or both settings, just click on the image Metro Background Image or Metro Background color to change the defaults.

Windows 8 Start Tweaker - User interface

When you are done, click Apply, log off and log back in to see the new logon screen color and the new Start screen background image.

Windows 8 Start Tweaker - Modified configuration

Windows 8 Start Tweaker allows the use of JPG, PNG, BMP, and GIF image file formats.

Important: You can use any image, but if you want the image to fill the whole screen, you should make an image yourself, and the height of the image should be double the height of your screen resolution. For instance: A screen resolution of 1280×800 will need an image of 1600 pixels of height, and the width is not limited.

Windows 8 Start Tweaker - New Start screen

In some other info about Windows 8 Start Tweaker, this is an application written in C++ WTL, it is a 103kb download, you don’t need to install it, it is portable, and it only works for Windows 8 Developer Preview release.

Download link

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.